


Hole in the World

by cowardsandheroes



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-14
Updated: 2013-04-14
Packaged: 2017-12-08 12:49:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/761485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cowardsandheroes/pseuds/cowardsandheroes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“When someone you love dies, and you're not expecting it, you don't lose her all at once; you lose her in pieces over a long time—the way the mail stops coming, and her scent fades from the pillows and even from the clothes in her closet and drawers. Gradually, you accumulate the parts of her that are gone. Just when the day comes—when there's a particular missing part that overwhelms you with the feeling that she's gone, forever—there comes another day, and another specifically missing part.” ― John Irving, A Prayer for Owen Meany</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hole in the World

**Author's Note:**

> written for the creative bingo challenge at beacon_hills on lj; prompt was 'family'

They used to have picnics every Sunday. Stiles would wake up early and help his mom make the sandwiches and lemonade and pack it all into a basket. She had her Jeep, the bright blue one that Stiles loved and couldn't wait to drive himself when he was old enough, that they always packed everything into and drove to the meadow just outside of town in. Stiles would pull a face every Sunday when his father arrived home from another night shift at the police station and pull his wife in for a hug and kiss, making sure Stiles was in the room and winking before grabbing her and tugging her in close. Stiles laughed, too, after they were finished kissing and his mom would slap his dad on the shoulder and blush.

It was their day. His dad always worked the Saturday night shift to ensure he would be home Sundays to spend time with his family, and Stiles never made plans with Scott so that he could have the whole day to spend with his parents.

He was fourteen when his mother passed away. Stiles and his mother were driving out to the meadow to set up for the weekly picnic—his father had to work an hour late to wrap up paperwork for a recently closed case—when a car swerved into their lane and slammed into the driver's side door. Stiles was told his mother passed away immediately, that she didn't feel any pain, but he knew it was a lie. He was there in the car with her when she opened her eyes and grabbed for his hand, gripping it tightly and telling him that everything was going to be okay. He didn't say anything, though—the lie was told to his father as well and he didn't want him to have to know that his wife had suffered.

Stiles rarely talked for the months after, was kept out of school and sent to a therapist after the nightmares and panic attacks began. Nothing really helped, and soon he was given a pill to take every morning with his Adderall to help in stopping the anxiety and sleepless nights.

A month and a half after the accident his father caught the driver of the other vehicle. He was wanted for other crimes as well, including another hit and run just outside of town, and the capture was the final link in his father's climb to promotion. The old sheriff was retiring due to heart problems and everyone at the station knew it was only time before his father was given the position. He wasn't home as much after that, and he apologized profusely—"Stiles, son, I really am sorry about this, but I have to go into work. I'm the sheriff now; they need me"—but Stiles never minded. Having the house to himself, where he could curl up in bed with a photo album full of pictures of his mom was his therapy, his way of dealing with the loss. His father's was his job because staying in the house he'd lived in with his dead wife and the son who looked liked her was too much, and putting everything into his job and being there instead was the easiest way for him to cope with the loss.


End file.
